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National Portrait Gallery

23 October 2015, 11:50

Thank you for your enquiry. The engraving commemorates an event in Munster, organised by the Catholic Association of Ireland. This was set up by Daniel O'Donnell as an Irish Roman Catholic political organisation, campaigning for Catholic emancipation within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1825 it reduced its membership fee to a penny, making it one of the first mass-membership political movements in Europe. Known as the 'Catholic Rent', membership was promoted by the central figure in the engraving, Sir Patrick Wyse. He wrote a book about the movement, which can be read online at Historical Sketch of the Late Catholic Association of Ireland, Volume 2 By Sir Thomas Wyse https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=jF8_AQAAMAAJ&pg=PR157&lpg=PR157&dq=munster+catholic+association&source=bl&ots=ZlVtWpBUv3&sig=zjq5zXoynNj3WPo2a4Q0aSQPz7o&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CC8Q6AEwAmoVChMI5L6JmtnTyAIVA78UCh0Mwwdi#v=onepage&q=staunton&f=false

There is more information available at http://multitext.ucc.ie/d/Catholic_Rent_1829

In February that year, the result of the Daniel O'Connell and the Catholic Association's campaigning, the Roman Catholic Relief Act of 1829 passed into law, finally allowing Roman Catholics to take their seats in Parliament.

As you are a descendant, can you give me your ancestor's dates of birth and death? It would allow me to improve our record, and fill out the details. If you can pinpoint the exact event shown, I would be even more interested. The sitters are shown, with facsimiles of their signatures below, so it must have been an important moment in July 1829, celebrating the newly appointed MPs.

Laurie Urane

28 September 2015, 04:20

Michael Staunton was my Great, great grandfather . I would be interested to know where the portrait came from or where it was made. There is a portrait of him and his wife in Mansion House Dublin. These portraits have a bit of history , as they ended up in Australia. Presumably my great grandfather bought them to Australia. My aunt Carmen Sweetman sent them back to Dublin in the 1940s

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